School Calendar Research Articles

Administrative and legal principles of ensuring the right to professional preliminary education for persons with disabilities

The scientific article is devoted to the administrative and legal principles of ensuring the right to professional preliminary education for persons with disabilities: foreign experience and directions for improvement. The experience of the USA and European countries in ensuring the right to vocational higher education for persons with disabilities is revealed
 Attention is drawn to the fact that higher education in the USA and Great Britain traditionally belongs to the so-called liberal or market model, which is characterized by a high degree of decentralization of management and diversification of higher education systems. In Italy, the state has exclusive legislative powers regarding general matters in the field of education, the minimum standards to be guaranteed throughout the country, and the basic principles. Regions define school networks within their territories, adjust the school calendar, and have exclusive powers in the field of vocational education and training. Schools are autonomous in terms of didactic, organizational and research work. The Italian state is responsible for funding schools for both educational and administrative purposes.
 It was concluded that the high-quality formation and implementation of vocational pre-university education for persons with disabilities is possible through the borrowing of positive foreign experience: a) openness of the formation and implementation of state policy in the given field for persons with disabilities; b) active development, encouragement, stimulation of the implementation of innovative activities by institutions of higher education, including vocational higher education for persons with disabilities; a) a qualitatively new paradigm of the content of education - considering it not as a collection of the given volume of knowledge, abilities and skills selected according to a certain specialty, but the formation of a comprehensively developed personality according to a comprehensive approach. There is a shift in emphasis not so much on how much the acquirer knows, in particular, persons with disabilities, special knowledge in the chosen field of study, but on how such professional qualities as the ability to adapt, practicality and initiative, the ability to apply acquired special knowledge, in necessary cases creatively rethink it for persons with disabilities.
 Therefore, when implementing electronic governance in Ukraine, we need to take into account the experience of foreign countries in order to avoid typical mistakes and acquire the most successful practices for ourselves. The priority for the countries that we studied is the introduction of high-quality professional pre-higher education to vulnerable sections of the population.

"ADAPTATION PROBLEMS OF ROMANIAN STUDENTS TO TECHNICAL HIGHER EDUCATION"

The current study underlines the main problems students deal with in the first academic year at University POLITEHNICA of Timişoara (UPT) while adjusting to the higher education environment. The adaptation challenges were investigated through 14 panel discussions. The topic assigned was “Students’ adaptation problems in Romanian higher education”. The target group included students in their first academic year, studying at the Faculty of Computer Science (CS), Electrical Engineering and Power Engineering (EE&PE); Electronics, Telecommunications and Information Technology (ETIT); Industrial Chemistry and Environment Engineering (ICEE); Mechanics (ME); Production Management and Transport (PMT); Architecture and Urbanism (AU), also doing the Psychological and Pedagogical Training Program. Each panel discussion was made up of 20 students, all 14 panel discussions summing up 280 students, out of which 158 female and 122 male students. The outcomes of the research show that students face different adaptation challenges that may result in a poor insertion into the academic system and education dropout. The adaptation problems identified by the students were diverse: accommodation and food; financial problems; school timetables and calendars (seminars, courses, laboratories and other instructional activities); teacher-student relationship; the teaching-learning-evaluation process, location of study; education for students with special needs and disabilities; administration and secretariats. The present study analyses these queries in order to facilitate the smooth insertion of students into the academic environment and increase student retention.

Impact of School Calendar on Academic Performance: A Comparative Study of the Year-Round and Traditional Calendars

Educational provisions enacted at the national level impact states by requiring a priority on improving the academic performance of students. Leaders in educational settings strive to implement changes that will aid in closing achievement gaps and increase academic achievement. The goal of this quantitative study was to determine if differences exist on fifth grade students’ performance on reading and mathematics assessments between schools on full-year calendars and schools on traditional 9-month calendars for years 2016-2017, 2017-2018, and 2018-2019. Although statistically significant differences were not found, results inform decision-making pertinent to time allocated for student learning. Results can be considered by district and campus administrators to support and encourage initiatives which focus on designated instructional time to target students’ academic needs.

Clinical academic staffing levels at a South African dental school

The inadequacy and skewed distribution of oral health personnel in South Africa are well-documented. Surprisingly, the staffing levels at dental schools have not previously been described. To determine the number of full-time equivalent clinical academic staff working at the dental school of the Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University for the five-year period 2015 to 2019.A retrospective cross-sectional descriptive study. Data related to the demographic characteristics and employment types of clinical academic staff working at the dental school between January 2015 and December 2019 were acquired from annual reports, payroll records and school calendars and used to calculate full-time equivalents (FTE) by academic ranks and specialties. Females and Black general dental practitioners at lecturer level constituted the majority of staff. FTE of staff at lecturer level increased sharply between 2016 and 2017 (52.7 FTE vs 65.9 FTE respectively) and have since graduall declined. FTEs of staff at senior lecturer (15.8FTE vs 12.1FTE) and professorial (7.8 FTE vs 5.3FTE) levels have continued to decline. FTEs of staff working in the majority of specialties have decreased while staffing levels in Prosthodontics and Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery have increased. Staffing levels declined between 2015 and 2019

Analysis of the results of the EGEL CENEVAL of the UDG CUNORTE law degree CUNORTE school calendar 2022-A

The Universidad de Guadalajara, through the 25th Study Plan of the Law Degree, seeks to train in its classrooms a legal professional capable of achieving the graduate profile; and that, with the graduation of the first generation of the aforementioned study plan in the 2022-B calendar is the ideal time to answer the following research question: What are the areas with the highest and lowest scores obtained in the results of the General Exit Examination for Bachelor's Degree [EGEL] of the National Evaluation Centre for Higher Education [CENEVAL] and how do they relate to the graduate profile and curriculum of the degree course? The aim is to establish recommendations for improvement that emerge from the analysis in order to obtain better results in subsequent applications with the aim of strengthening the necessary areas that are identified. The study corresponds to a non-experimental exploratory work, where through documentary review and analysis of the results of the evaluation, the conclusion of a profile related and relevant to litigation within the practice of law is established.

A Comparative Study on the Academic Achievement of Non-Disabled Learners in Inclusive and Non-Inclusive Classrooms at a Rural Primary School in Zimbabwe

The study sought to compare the academic achievement of non-disabled learners in inclusive classrooms and non-inclusive classrooms in mathematics at a rural primary school in Zimbabwe. A quasi-experimental research based on a factorial design was utilised. Three grade 4 classrooms with each class having 2 learners with moderate intellectual disabilities comprised the experimental group (inclusive classroom). The remaining three classrooms with learners without disabilities formed the control group (non-inclusive classrooms). A partially adapted Wide Range Achievement test—Revised Level 1 was used to determine the academic achievement in mathematics at the beginning and end of the school calendar. The pre-test resulted in a sample size of 168 participants (84 in the experimental group; 84 in the control group) equally distributed by level of achievement (28 low; 28 average; 28 high) for each group and matched by gender achievement (42 in inclusive and 42 in non-inclusive classrooms, with each variable having 21 boys and 21 girls). The post-test results indicated a non-significant main effect for class type, indicating that non-inclusive classes (M = 27) had higher mean scores than inclusive classes (M = 25), F (1, 164) = 1.54 p > 0.05. The main effect for gender was also non-significant. Males had higher scores (M = 27) than their female counterparts (M = 25), F (1, 164) = 1.54 p > 0.05. The two factor analysis of variance, also, showed a non-significant main effect for class type, F (1, 162) = 2.32, p > 0.05; a significant main effect for achievement level (low, average and high achieving learners), F (2, 162) = 12.36 p < 0.05. The effect size (f = 0.39) was large. The degree of association between performance and their low, average and high achievement levels (estimated ω2 = 0.17) was small. A non-significant interaction between class type and achievement, F (2, 162) = 2.07, p > 0.05 was found.

Analytical study of the impact of age chronotype and time preferences on the academic performance of secondary school students from a modest social background

The biological factors of the human being are subject to both endogenous and exogenous circadian rhythms. The effects of the latter on cognitive, psychomotor and academic performance is burdensome. During the weekdays, the adolescent interactions are regulated by the school rhythm on the one hand and the biological fluctuations on the other. However, no studies till nowdays have investigated the relationship of academic performance with age and chronotype or analyzed students’ time preferences of courses reviewing and familial socioeconomic status in a young Moroccan population. For this reason, we aimed to examine the impact of these variables on the scholar outcomes of Moroccan adolescents whose average age is 13 years, based on their grade levels.We used the “Morningness-Eveningness questionnaire (MEQ)” through its 19 multiple-choice questions to measure chronotype, while courses reviewing preferences on school days and familial socioeconomic status were investigated using a directive interview. As for the academic performance measures, we used the grade point average (GPA), extracted from “MASSAR platform” for each school subject.The majority of the sample is intermediate type (51.91 ± 9.66), 23.5% of it is morning type while the rest is evening type. Morning type students at all grade levels had a higher grade point average compared to moderate evening type. The results showed that chronotype has a main effect on both Humanistic/linguistic (p < .024) and Physical education grades (p < .031). While age (p< .001), mothers’ educational level and fathers financial status all have a significatif effect on students’ academic performance. Our results opt for the consideration of students’circadian typology, grade levels, time preferences and familial socioeconomic status when planning the school calendar, aiming from administrators to make small changes in the scheduling patterns that may improve the academic performance at a law-cost.

Causes, characteristics, and patterns of prolonged unplanned school closures prior to the COVID-19 pandemic-United States, 2011-2019.

Outside of pandemics, there is little information about occurrence of prolonged unplanned K-12 school closures (PUSC). We describe here the reasons, characteristics, and patterns of PUSC in the United States during 8 consecutive inter-pandemic academic years, 2011-2019. From August 1, 2011 through June 30, 2019, daily systematic online searches were conducted to collect data on publicly announced unplanned school closures lasting ≥1 school days in the United States. Closures were categorized as prolonged when schools were closed for ≥5 unplanned days (approximating one full workweek), excluding weekends and scheduled days off per school calendars. During the eight academic years, a total of 22,112 PUSCs were identified, affecting over 800,000 teachers and 13 million students that resulted in 91.5 million student-days lost. A median of 62.9% of students in PUSC-affected schools were eligible for subsidized school meals. Most affected schools were in cities (35%) and suburban areas (33%). Natural disasters (47%), adverse weather conditions (35%), and budget/teacher strikes (15%) were the most frequently cited reasons for PUSC; illness accounted for 1%, and building/facility issues, environmental issues and violence together accounted for the remaining 2%. The highest number of PUSCs occurred in Health and Human Services Regions 2, 3, 4, and 6 encompassing areas that are frequently in the path of hurricanes and tropical storms. The majority of PUSCs in these regions were attributed to a handful of hurricanes during the fall season, including hurricanes Sandy, Irma, Harvey, Florence, and Matthew. PUSCs occur annually in the United States due to a variety of causes and are associated with a substantive loss of student-days for in-school learning. Both these prior experiences with PUSCs and those during the current COVID-19 pandemic illustrate a need for creating sustainable solutions for high-quality distance learning and innovative supplemental feeding programs nationwide, especially in disaster-prone areas.

Educational Technology Adoption in Instructional Delivery in the New Global reality.

Educational technology is a discipline that has a lot of roles to play in the global education system yet, its services had been neglected over the years in Nigeria. The new global reality that was occasioned by the upsurge of COVID-19 has made educational technology a very consequential discipline with conspicuous roles to play in the face of such a global pandemic. COVID-19 has halted many human activities across the globe. Its effect in the education system has resulted to re-adjustment in the school calendar, prolonged graduation dates, and reduced research output. To combat this, many education systems now adopt the services of educational technology thereby changing the old norm. But for this new norm to be sustainable, this paper argues that the education system must show a pragmatic attitude towards the adoption of such innovation rather than a conservative attitude. Therefore, using the diffusion theory of innovation, this paper argues that necessity called for compulsory adoption of innovation in the Nigerian education system. This new opportunity, however, looks bleak as many educational practitioners lack the required skills and attitude to adopt the innovation. It, therefore, concludes that educational practitioners need in-service training to be part of these changes. The government is suggested to apply a systematic approach in procuring and installing ICT facilities that will enhance the diffusion of this innovation into the school system.

Shared Strategic Vision in Participative Leadership Style and Quality Education Provision in Public Secondary Schools in Arusha Region, Tanzania

This study examined the influence of shared strategic vision in participative leadership style on improving the quality of education in public secondary schools in Arusha region, Tanzania. Correlation survey design under quantitative approach was adopted to establish the influence of shared strategic vision on improving the quality of education. Data was collected from 291 respondents, comprising district education officers, heads of schools, academic masters/mistresses, students’ leaders, and teachers. Data was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The results of the analysis revealed that shared strategic vision is a vital approach of participative leadership style that enabled the involvement of teachers in preparing a detailed school calendar system to guide teaching and learning activities for facilitating students’ achievements, provides conducive environment for motivating teachers through timely rewards systems, facilitates the sustainable implementation of education goals by ensuring that teaching strategies are guided by clear objectives for improving quality education, facilitates effective monitoring and evaluation of teaching and learning process for ensuring regular and early report of students’ academic progress, increases teachers’ commitment and efficiency to the attainment of students’ performance especially in lesson preparation and syllabus completion. The study concluded that teacher and students’ leaders are mainly implementers of the strategic vision rather than designers and thus affect the provision of quality of education. The study recommended the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology to develop a clear policy and increase efforts in training and retraining headmasters/mistresses on the proper delegation of responsibility for improving the quality of education in public secondary schools.

Views on Modifying the Traditional School Calendar for a Post-COVID World: Could a Balanced Calendar Model Mitigate COVID-19 Slide?

The COVID-19 pandemic has provided a period for reexamination of how the world schools its children. Policy makers are considering how to address myriad challenges during this tenuous post-COVID era in primary and secondary education. This paper discusses potential school calendar change in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Modifying the traditional school calendar to a balanced approach has been attempted and scrutinized for decades providing varying results on academic achievement. The question is whether a year-round or extended school calendar could counteract COVID-19 learning loss, in addition to addressing achievement gaps, reducing viral transmission, and supporting vulnerable student populations.

Implementation of Teacher Performance Appraisal and Development in Secondary Schools in Nandi North Sub-County, Kenya

The teacher performance appraisal and development tool was introduced by the Teachers Service Commission to promote teacher accountability, enhance instructional quality, identify areas where teachers need additional development and promote the overall academic outcomes of schools in Kenya. The response of teachers and school administrators to TPAD has been mixed, with some schools embracing it wholly while others rejected the idea. The purpose of the study was to investigate the state of implementation of teacher performance appraisal and development in public secondary schools in Nandi North Sub-County, Kenya. The study used ex-post facto research design. The target population was 417 teachers and 55 principals of the 55 public secondary schools in the Sub-County. Stratified random sampling was used to select 11 schools to take part in the study. Further, stratified random sampling was then deployed to select 125 teachers and 11 principals to take part in the study. Data was collected using a questionnaire for teachers and interview guide for school principals. Quantitative data was coded into SPSS version 20 and analyzed descriptively using frequencies and percentages. It was then presented using frequency distribution tables with explanations. Qualitative data was analyzed thematically. The findings of the study showed that teachers were subjected to the filling of the TPAD and that appraisal has improved their instructional performance. It was concluded that teacher evaluation is a critical and regular routine in most school calendars. It is a very valuable period for administrators to improve instruction and learning. Therefore, it was recommended that before setting foot in the classroom for a lesson observation, principals need to sit with the teacher to discuss the upcoming lesson that is to be observed and the expectations of the appraisal process.

Suicidality in University Students Throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic

IntroductionThe COVID-19 pandemic has greatly disrupted the day-to-day life of university students, as it has for the general population. University students have been reported to have high rates of mental health concerns, including suicidal ideation.ObjectivesAscertaining the correlation of Covid-19 dissemination and proximity to University students in Vancouver, Canada, with suicidal ideation and suicidal plan.MethodsWe analyuzed weekly cross-sectional data from our Canadian World Mental Health International College Student survey by plotting the 30-day suicide ideation as a binary and the ordered 30-day suicide ideation outcomes using logistic and ordered generalized additive model (GAM) respectively, with a cubic spline and adjusting for demographics. We also ran an analysis on the association between binary 30-day ideation and different sample characteristics using logistic regression.ResultsThe time trend analysis showed that suicidal ideation did not seem to increase during the COVID-19 pandemic. On the contrary, ideation levels were found to be high in the beginning (February 2020) with a downwards trend through June to September before gradually increasing around November, 2020. We identified sociodemographic risk factors that may be associated with suicidal ideation, and established that those most at risk were students who had been emotionally overwhelmed by Covid-19 and unable to find help.ConclusionsOur results seem to indicate that, in general, students have remained resilient under the stress factors presented by the pandemic, and that trends in suicidality seem to follow seasonal or school calendar year stressors rather than respond to the pandemic. However, certain subpopulations appear to be more affected than others.DisclosureNo significant relationships.

Extreme weather, climate variability, and childhood: A historical analogue from the Orkney Islands (1903–1919)

Many small island communities are said to possess high levels of autonomous coping capacity, often linked to peripherality. This social resilience is dynamic rather than static, with environmental, social, and political drivers shaping local pattens of vulnerability, necessitating reflection on how choices in one area may potentially lead to new vulnerabilities or transfers of vulnerability to already sensitive groups, such as children. This article argues that a historical perspective can help shed light on these dynamics. Impacts of extreme weather and climate variability, and resultant impacts of community coping strategies, on children in early-20th-century Orkney are explored using school logbooks. It finds that extreme weather ‘shocks’ directly impact children’s ability to attend school, while adjustments to the school calendar for agricultural operations constitute an indirect impact of climate variability, with reduced recreation time an emergent effect. Contextualised amidst contemporary island scholarship, two key messages emerge. Firstly, that the mobility and/or work of children in island communities remain sensitive to climate stressors in the present day and, secondly, that the island context itself matters, as characteristics commonly associated with ‘islandness’ — such as smallness, remoteness, and high social capital — may intersect in ways that fundamentally impact children’s experiences of weather, work, and education.

What is ‘roadschooling’ and who does it? A data mining web content analysis

Homeschooling families typically have the freedom to plan educational road trips without the constraints of a traditional school calendar. For this study, a total of 21 web pages were selected using ‘roadschool’ – a term that has recently emerged to describe such trips – as a keyword. A web content analysis revealed that this option is perceived as an opportunity for family bonding and is mostly popular among homeschooling families who own recreational vehicles and consider themselves digital nomads. Furthermore, it was observed that roadschooling parents often exhibited personality types that enhanced the overall learning outcomes and experiences of their trips. Implications and future research directions are discussed.

The Development of A Cloud-Based University Research Repository Software Using A Configurable Subscription Model

With more research that is added every year of every school calendar, there is no doubt it becomes a file or stack of research hardbound resides on the library. These researches should not only settle on the shelves, making them electronically available as references, or to be cited are the ones it truly deserves. This paper emphasizes the need for a cloud-based research repository to be implemented in every University that can be utilized to serve its purpose. This research repository is based on an online publication and subscription model. Online publication provides reading sources via the internet in which is accessible and more convenient to most people. The repository will also adapt the concept of reconfigurability as the users may have their own preferences with regard to how they publish or subscribe to a paper. These would give them more options on deciding how they would publish and or avail paper references. Research that is within the repository that will be referenced, cited, or downloaded has the corresponding remuneration based on the approval of the University. In this way, more researchers will continue to provide more scholarly output to be published and to gain more citing, downloads, and eventually more remuneration. The repository has the potential to expand as more researchers will be turned in its service and would be beneficial to stakeholders. The respondents in this paper show the acceptability of the process, making them more likely to work in any educational institution. Moreover, as time progress, researchers and organizations would avail to use the software in accordance with their needs as well as the preferences of its user with the configurability of the software, thus providing a continuous educational-business process to all stakeholders. And with the current situation of the global pandemic, heterogeneous access to resources is all being sought.

Seasonality of Pediatric Mental Health Emergency Department Visits, School, and COVID-19.

The aim of this study was to explore how the academic calendar, and by extension school-year stressors, contributes to the seasonality of pediatric mental health emergency department (ED) visits. The authors reviewed all pediatric mental health ED visits at a large urban medical center from 2014 to 2019. Patients who were younger than 18 years at time of presentation, were Durham residents, and had a primary payer of Medicaid were included in the sample population, and the dates of ED visits of the sample population were compared against dates of academic semesters and summer/winter breaks of a relevant school calendar. Of patients with multiple ED visits, only the first ED presentation was included, and descriptive statistics and a rate ratio were used to describe the study group and identify the rate of ED visits during semesters compared with breaks. Among the sample population from 2014 to 2019, there were 1004 first pediatric mental health ED visits. Of these ED visits, the average number of visits per week during summer/winter breaks was 2.2, and the average number of visits per week during academic semester dates was 3.4. The rate of ED visits was significantly greater during academic semesters compared with breaks (Rate Ratio, 1.6; 95% confidence interval, 1.4-2.0; P < 0.001). Children may be at greater risk of behavioral health crises or having increased mental needs when school is in session. As many children's mental health has worsened during the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic, these findings highlight the need for increased mental health services in the school setting as children return to in-person learning. In addition, it may benefit health systems to plan behavioral health staffing around academic calendars.

English Learner Teacher Advocates: A Systematic Literature Review

In this systematic literature review, we synthesize and critically analyze information from publications between 2010 and 2020 that answer the following overarching research question: What does being (or not being) advocates for English learner (EL) students look like for EL teachers? Findings indicate that EL teachers’ backgrounds and characteristics, such as gender, race, intercultural experience, and experience teaching, affect their propensity to advocate and the types of advocacy in which they engage. Additionally, we examine ways teachers advocate for their students inside and outside the classroom/school, such as changing how they instruct their EL students, and speaking up for them at district or states’ departments of education meetings. We also explore and describe conditions that support (supportive administration, prioritizing ELs in the master school calendar, collaboration with general education teachers, for example) and hinder (unsupportive administration, marginalization of ELs and EL teachers, lack of collaboration with general education teachers, for instance) advocacy for ELs by EL teachers. Recommendations for pre- and in-service teacher education programs are offered, and potential areas for future research are also discussed.

Seasonality of Completed Suicides in Adolescents Under the Age of 18 years in Michigan During 2000-2015

In Michigan, the increase in adolescent suicide is above the national average. Literature identifies that adolescent suicide increases at the beginning of the school calendar suggesting seasonality of suicide deaths based on the school calendar. The purpose of this study was to analyze seasonality of adolescent suicide in Michigan. Six hundred ninety one suicide death records of adolescents 5-17 years of age between 2000 and 2015 were obtained from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Vital Statistics Unit. Yearly, monthly, and weekly frequencies were plotted, along with frequency of age using times series analysis. Frequencies of suicide deaths increased, with peak events occurring October 23rd-29th. Suicide deaths were lower when school was not in session, June through August. Data also revealed an increase in younger children completing suicide between the years 2000 and 2015. Findings strongly indicated a pattern of adolescent suicide related to the school calendar.

Ensinando através de vidas: construções biográfico-narrativas pensadas como metodologia ativa e significativa

Abstract The present work intends to present as a perspective of the field of social sciences, the biographical-narrative approach of lives, has the founding potential – when applied in teaching – to activate and make meaningful (and significant) both learning and the lives of students and educators. Based on an interpretive and reflective reading, the methodology is based on a broad discussion about dealing with biographical narratives. Along with this, the relational possibilities that narrating and reconstructing trajectories reveal are pointed out, added to the understanding of how these are intercrossed in contexts and relationships at the micro and macro level, in the private and public spheres, encompassing traditional, popular and cultivated knowledge. This fact leads to the pedagogical latency of this methodological experience of teaching-learning-research. Therefore, it is intended to point to ways of operationalizing – disciplinary and also inter-, multi- and transdisciplinary – the processes and tools, as well as the gains in interests and contextualization of the contents proposed by the curricula and school calendars. These procedures have the relevant role of revealing the socio-historical present of the trajectories and of the agents that circulate educational life, but also of the families and, especially, of the students themselves, and place them as historical agents filled with subjectivities built in the daily interrelationships and intercoms. In this way, it is pointed out, finally, how the biographical-narrative approach has the potential to constitute itself as an active, interpretive and reflective methodology, without forgetting to be critical and to produce openings for the emancipation of the agents (educator and student).